Chapter 9 - The Ultimatum
The fluorescent lights of the ICU corridor seemed to hum louder, pressing down on the sudden, suffocating silence.
I looked at Arthur Sterling. I didn't flinch, and I didn't let my expression waiver. After two years of building my reputation as the youngest chief surgeon in St. Victoria’s history, navigating hospital politics was just another kind of anatomy—rotten, but predictable.
"An administrative suspension," I repeated, my voice dangerously calm. "Based on an anonymous complaint filed while my patient’s chest was literally still closing in the OR."
"The timing is unfortunate, Dr. Carter, but the optics are devastating," Sterling replied, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses with an air of absolute finality. "If the board initiates a formal inquiry, the press will have a field day. A high-profile patient, a personal feud at a family brunch, and the chief surgeon operating under emotional duress. The hospital’s legal team advises a voluntary step-down for forty-eight hours."
"Voluntary?" I stepped closer to him, letting the full weight of my authority as chief of surgery press down on the space between us. "You want me to voluntarily walk away from an unstable post-op cardiac patient because some corporate coward hid behind an anonymous filing?"
"It’s not a request, Emily," Sterling said, lowering his voice so it didn't carry past the glass doors of the ICU. "Hand over your badge and your pager to the administrator on duty. If you cooperate quietly, the board will handle the inquiry internally and quietly dismiss it next week."
Daniel grabbed my arm, his face twisted in utter disbelief and rage. "You can't do this! I'm going to call my father's legal team right now—"
"No, Daniel," I said softly, gently removing his hand from my sleeve.
I reached up, unclipping the gold-lettered hospital badge from the pocket of my scrubs. I slid the pager off my waistband, placing both items neatly into the palm of Arthur Sterling's hand. The metal felt cool against his skin.
"My patient is stable for the moment," I said, meeting Sterling's gaze with absolute, unyielding ice. "If his graft blows or his rhythm destabilizes within the next twelve hours, Harrison knows the protocol. But if Richard Reynolds dies because you locked me out of this building over a bureaucratic technicality, your legal team won't be able to save you from the lawsuit I file."
Sterling swallowed hard, the weight of my words finally registering beneath his arrogant exterior, though he tried to maintain his composure. "The suspension is effective immediately, Doctor. Please leave the floor."
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I turned around, walking down the long corridor toward the locker rooms without looking back once.
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